Showing all posts tagged CNN

John Kelly’s failure to book seats for the first lady on Airforce One, thereby creating security snafus and other logistic problems, was no mere oversight. A military man made White House chief of staff doesn’t make security-logistic mistakes. Getting along with the first lady personally, then giving her a smaller staff than previous first ladies, refusing to promote her staff while promoting his own—all these were indications of something deeper.

Pacific Daily Times’ Symphony suggested on September 10 that the “mole” who wrote the infamous, and since forgotten, “New York Times essay” fit the profile of someone like John Kelly. The clashes leading up to his rumored replacement fit the profile even more. Similarly, is a DHS chief performing poorly—another non-accident—, then Kelly clashing with security adviser John Bolton when Bolton criticized the poor performance. Try this hypothetical scenario: The essay author was in cahoots with other saboteurs; when a fellow saboteur was called-out, the saboteur naturally got defensive. Such a saboteur probably didn’t storm out of the White House on October 18 from mere rage, but to perform apparently-needed damage control since his plans for sabotage were at risk. That scenario may not be true, but it would explain a lot. Does it seem all that strange that Kelly and the DHS chief he was so defensive of would both be on the radar for replacement?

Theories to fit the pieces together, however, are no more than theories. All we know from here is that a theory made Kelly’s departure all too predictable and that, to know the rest, we’ll just have to wait and see. Replacing a cabinet member should be easier with Governor Rick Scott having secured the fifty-second Republican seat in the Senate.

With rules of conduct in place for the White House press, it will be easier for reporters to have fair access to questions and easier for the White House to kick out reporters who want to take mic time from others. For suing the woman who worked at the White House who tried to take away the White House microphone from Jim Acosta—on camera—with no injury—when he wouldn’t yield the floor to his peers—CNN and Acosta should be ashamed.

Donald Trump Tweeting himself is important. It’s more important that Jame’s Comey writing classified information in his personal memos, more important than cutting the environmental red tape holding back pollution, more important than DeVos re-making 1965 education law, more important than Dodd-Frank regulations being scrapped, even more important than Obamacare about to bite the dust!

In fact, Trump’s Tweet about himself is more important than a young man’s privacy, than his dignity—it’s even more important than CNN’s own credibility with the public.

America’s new president is anything but a fool. He knows exactly where to throw a scrap of meat to the dogs, how big it should be, exactly how long it will take for them to scramble for it. He is the master of the spotlight, whether his own spotlight or shining a spotlight on someone else to blind them from what he is doing.

And, he is doing a lot.

He has made massive rollbacks in Obama-era rules. This is arguably one of Obama’s biggest failings—that Obama left everything he worked for so easy to undo. He made rules with the stroke of a pen, Trump undid them with the stroke of a pen. But under Trump, Betsy DeVos is exploring fundamental legislative changes to education—and that’s just the beginning.

The Trump administration is pushing legislation that rarely gets mentioned in light of top titles—military, tax… Obamacare… While Republicans are fighting amongst each other over the optics of disagreeing with Obamacare, other laws are getting passed without any scrutiny from the media. And, it’s all thanks to pop culture’s obsession with everything that doesn’t matter. Pop culture got Trump elected and pop culture will get his policies passed.

Obama’s legacy is being undone because he didn’t work. He didn’t work with Congress to get laws that would outlast a Republican majority. He spent too much time golfing. He gave too many long-winded speeches and didn’t produce enough hard-earned, well-manufactured product. Compared to Trump, Obama was lazy. That’s why Trump is getting his way: work.

No attack can harm a man who works. No media smear can hurt him. It’s not that all press is good press all the time. Rather, all press is good press for those who work.

Right and wrong, for both better and worse, we are entering an era dominated by people who work.

Donald keeps making headlines. Just ahead of the Hawkeye Cauci, two polls report Trump and Cruz in a dead heat, the rest give Trump a 9-ish point lead. But only Iowans know how Iowans will caucus. Corn could a problem for Cruz. He may have gotten his message out too late. Or, perhaps too may Iowans like government subsidies for Cruz to ever win. Or, maybe ethanol doesn’t matter at all.

We’ll see. So will Microsoft. And so will Bernie see whether Microsoft sees clearly. This is the first time the election results are being calculated by the tech giant, inviting watchdogs. There are a lot of firsts in this election.

Trump’s absence at the Fox debate didn’t seem to matter to anyone but Fox—before the debate. And it didn’t seem to matter to anyone else before, not even Fox during or after. Debates themselves are being tested as to their worth, other than profitability. Thought-to-be campaign rules are being set on end so much, it is as if the Andrew Jackson campaign were making a comeback. Strategy books will write about these times, placing Trump alongside Drew, Abe, and Theo.

China may have been pushed to the breaking point. America may have called the Communist bluff. With all of the “yesmen” required for a totalitarian regime to continue, Michael Cole points out that the majority members of the Communist party probably don’t support an invasion of Taiwan (the largest Chinese contention in the Pacific.)

Reportedly, only 3% of Taiwanese think they are Chinese and only 9% want Taiwan to become a province of China. Reunification between Taiwan and China is untenable by all accounts. Even if forced, Taiwan would cease to exist as it is; China would acquire a costly pile of rubble. The fact that Beijing continues to tout such aspirations suggests that they may be ignorant of the reality of their situation—stereotypical of imploding regimes.

In the “wake” of suggested ignorance in Beijing, America is setting sail for the newest islands in the Pacific. Beijing is getting ready for America getting ready to set sail. · · · →

Trump is the father America never had. More every day, slams and smears resemble an angry 16 year old trying to get back the keys to the car. Trump answers like a dad who says, “If you want to drive the car, you have to wash it and change the oil.” Americans who grew up in single-family homes and with disrespected fathers don’t know how to respond.

The spy who hacked the Clinton’s is found dead. The Clinton’s are almost as angry about the hacking as MI6—which raises its own questions. When did the Clinton’s and MI6 agree about anything? Not to worry, the British government is investigating whether the spy was able to lock himself in the bag he was found in. A yoga expert was brought in to try, though he failed. Does this foreshadow that Hillary’s ability to lock-in her own election has been hacked?

Ben Carson closes-in, but not against Trump; against the other hopefuls. · · · →